Welcome to the family

Friday

Aug 2, 2013 at 6:00 AM

My family recently grew by two. As usual with my family, an announcement, with photo, appeared on Facebook.

Welcome a female calico kitten and her brother, part Himilayan.

My husband and I have been “childless” since October, when our feline baby Bebe passed away. We knew we were going to wait until we got back from our big African adventure. We knew we had some bathroom renovations that we wanted to get done. And we knew we were looking for two kittens from the same litter.

Finding the kittens was not hard. My sister-in-law volunteers at a shelter and, once we had voiced our desire, she forwarded us a photo of two she had her eyes on. They needed some time in isolation to recover from a skin condition, then they were going to be fixed, so the timetable seemed perfect.

We visited while they were still getting “dips,” so we were encased in plastic. Then, last weekend, with a clean bill of health, we went to visit so we could get some cuddle time. The girl was affectionate but playful. The boy was beautiful and energetic. We spent some time playing with a laser pointer and knew we could become a family. We even spent time with “mom,” who shared their private room. We wanted to make sure she was OK with us taking her babies home with us.

We spent a day cat-proofing our house, covering open shelves with heavy plastic and putting away breakables.

I took a day off from work to make sure my husband and I both had time to chase the kittens around the house. We put the two into the carrier and headed home.

The boy cried the whole way. I tried to comfort him, but it was his sister that quieted him down, somewhat, with some tender grooming. But the meowing continued until we put the carrier down in our living room.

He was the first to take a tentative step out of the carrier. His sister pushed to get by, but he was a bit of a roadblock.

Then they both were off exploring. They stayed low, despite my husband building a tower for them and installing window shelves.

She slid under all the cabinets in the house with three inches of clearance. We didn't take into consideration how low they could limbo.

They found the back bedroom and claimed it as theirs quickly. We kept trying to pull them into an air conditioned room, but they went back to their “alone time.”

We had to leave the house for a few minutes to meet with the neighbors, and I returned first to check on our newcomers. I found the girl easily, sitting on the bed in the spare bedroom, but couldn't find her brother. I circled the house a few times, and started getting concerned. I went back to the girl and asked where her brother was. She gave me a weird look and looked over my shoulder. There stood her brother, precariously poised atop a huge pile of jigsaw puzzles.

We spent a few quality moments bonding with the kittens curled in our arms. We figured we were officially adopted when they both licked our noses.

Then, the fun began. She would chase him down the hall, skidding and sliding. He would chase her back, bumping into brooms and shelves along the way.

They devoured every morsel of food in their bowls. And, when the time came for the humans to eat, they wanted that, too (we did not relent, though it was tough keeping it away from them while they were double teaming us).

I had my laptop out, checking The Item's email, when the dynamic duo jumped up on the table, walked boldly across the keyboard and sat down. All the boxes on the email quickly became checked, ready to be deleted. I chased the boy off and the girl sat firmly down, typing the letter “W” several times in the search window.

Later, the girl, who I began calling Callie, was half asleep in my arms when we heard an odd sound from the kitchen. My husband went to investigate, and found the boy on the counter. He had the homemade loaf of bread unwrapped, apparently unaware that the experts believe tinfoil is a good way to discourage felines from counters. He was just gnawing on the edge of the unwrapped loaf, proud of himself as can be.

The first day was an adventure. Whichever one of us was typing, the cats would walk across that keyboard. One would cuddle, the other would be wandering behind furniture and finding something to make noise with.

We knew bringing two kittens into our house would change our lives. So far, they have brought a bit of chaos and a lot of chuckles. The girl seems angelic, but we are figuring out she is the brains of the operation and her brother is the muscle. She is the distraction for his adventures.

Can't wait to see what the future will bring.

Jan Gottesman is managing editor of The Item. She can be reached at clintonitem@yahoo.com.